


Fate/Because (If)

by AngelGrace



Series: Fate/Because [1]
Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fate Grand Order Spoilers, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24956437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelGrace/pseuds/AngelGrace
Summary: A side-story to the upcoming "Because" Series (Fate Grand Order Lostbelt Fanfiction)By mere chance, Star, an American Tourist visiting Japan, happened to get entangled with the Organization for the Preservation of the Human Order, Chaldea. By chance, she was selected, first as a Master Candidate, and then as the Last Master of Humanity. Through singularities, she battled and triumphed and saved humanity. During this time, however, she began to realize something, as black crept across her hair, bit by bit with each challenge faced.On it's own, this wouldn't be enough to tip the hand of fate, but by mere chance, she caught the attention of a one Kyonskaya...
Relationships: Tamamo no Mae/OC | Alter Ego
Series: Fate/Because [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806250
Kudos: 3





	Fate/Because (If)

Licking her dry lips, the Mage tugged again on the gloves she was wearing, looking up at the clock. It wouldn’t do to show nervousness. She knew well how Mistress looked down on her uncertainty and weakness. A bitter laugh escaped the lips of the Mage as her eyes turned ceiling-ward. After all her adventures, all the lives she had met, everything that had occured, all it took was throwing it all away to finally escape from her self-doubt. She knew what was occuring, even now; to think that the old world would fight so hard!   
  
Mentally, she chided herself. What was occurring here was but a single facet in a larger plan. If she hadn’t been prepared to sacrifice a bit, she never would have made it this far. No, she thought to herself, her gaze drifting over to a nearby mirror, black locks now tumbling down nearly past her shoulders, she had to have a longer perspective. Star, Master of Chaldea, Savior of Humanity, was dead. The last hope for the Proper Human Order now lay on the shoulders of what looked like a miracle.

The Mage knew better, though. Mistress had arranged this. She had arranged all of this for her own amusement, to liven up the hunt. They’d be leaving soon; as soon as her Mistress had a chance to savor the events she had set in motion. With a slight smile, the Mage stepped to the balcony to see for herself as all the fury of Russia slammed, futilely, against a single shield. For a moment, she allowed herself the luxury of sliding off her left glove, right thumb tracing over the remnants of what had once been on the back of her hand.   
  
The last, burned traces of a Command Seal.

###  _**Ninety-seven days prior** _

Star, Master of Chaldea, Savior of Humanity, was exhausted. Six hours. Six hours she had been questioned on everything, from how the Grand Order had started, to each of the singularities...even the events caused by the remaining Demon God Pillars. Even...Salem. Her hand went to her mouth, and she shook her head. She was still processing what she had seen there herself, and now they had dragged it all out into the open. Dragged out and examined, and reexamined, and torn apart. There were only a few scarce secrets she had managed to keep from them, including…

Her hand brushed back through her hair as she pondered. After the events in Agartha, the black streak through her hair had expanded, and she’d discovered a few more. In Salem? Black was starting to become her dominant color. There was certainly a pattern, if one she hadn’t quite-   
  
“Well, hello there, kitten ♥” came a sultry voice from behind her. Star turned, her eyes wide with surprise, as she found herself face to face with...Goredolfs Secretary? Obviously, Star knew Koyanskaya was more than a mere secretary. It was plainly obvious that she was the one really behind everything happening to Chaldea, not Goredolf. The question was: why? What did she have to gain from coming here?   
“Fouuuuuu~!”

Star barely managed to dodge out of the way of the flying fluffball before Fou went after Koyanskaya’s face. Deftly batting the small creature aside, she pressed her foot to Fou’s back with a disdainful look. “You might have been something once, but now you’re weak...and this is just how it goes when the weak attack the strong.” she looked up to Star again, a smirk on her face...and then what seemed like, for just a brief moment, surprise...and finally, a far wider smirk as she straightened up. “You’re an interesting one, though. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to indulge me for a short time?” she asked, “Hero of Chaldea...you probably don’t even know where you are, do you?”   
  
“I have my suspicions, but events have always precluded me asking.” Star remarked. Her eyes flitted down to Fou for a moment, then back up to Kyoanskaya, studying her. Her every movement, her every word, was a clue, an answer to her purpose here, and what lay beyond.

Under Star’s careful examination, however, Kyoanskaya merely folded her arms, still smirking. “You’re not at all what I expected. When I read your file, I expected some child, out of their depth, with lofty ideals. You, though...you might be ignorant, but…” she chuckled softly, licking her lips. “Regardless, without your Servants, you’re as weak at this one.” she punctuated this by grinding her foot against Fou, then lifting it to allow the small creature to escape.

Watching Fou scuttle off, Star glanced back, one hand holding the other wrist, just below her command seals. Even with the Spirit Origins dismissed, she might...then she sighed, lowering her hands. It was a futile effort; she didn’t have the magic to summon so much as a Shadow Servant, much less one of her contracted Servants, and even if she did, what use would it be, here-   
  
Her breath caught as her chin was lifted, and she found herself staring into Kyoanskaya’s green eyes. “Unlike that fluffball, however, it seems you know your place. You somehow managed to stumble your way into saving the world, and all the while, you were hiding the faltering of your own heart. It’s almost pitiable, except…” she wrapped one of Star’s black swaths of hair around her finger.

“Except what?” Star asked, after a minute; her voice was trembling a bit, that was for sure, but she needed to know. Desperately, she needed to know. She was getting tired of being left in the dark. Even if it was from someone like this, she wanted some answers.   
  
“Except it’s more than mere cowardice, isn’t it? Star~ Savior of Humanity~? You want to live.” as she spoke, she leaned in closer and closer, until her face was an inch from Star’s. “When did it happen for the first time?”

Slowly, Star stepped backward, her eyes wide, moving away from Koyanskaya. With each step, the pink-haired woman kept pace with her, smirking, until Star’s back was to the wall. Shaking her head, she tried to keep that gaze, but something about it kept driving her eyes down towards the ground. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about…” she stammered out, swallowing. 

Laughing, Koyanskaya towered over her. “You can’t lie to me. It started small, but as the battles got more dangerous, you started to realize what you really valued~ Why you were really fighting. What you were willing to do to keep living.” she put a hand on Star’s head. “I’m about to find myself with a...vacancy in my staff.” gasping, Star looked up, the smug expression on Koyanskaya’s face suggesting she knew exactly what Star was thinking. “Don’t get all excited, dear. It’s not a position of power, nor one of glory. But…” a gloved finger was placed gently on Star’s lips. “That’s not what you want, is it?

“After all.  _ You know your place. _ ”

The words were spoken with absolute certainty. Of course they were, because both parties knew they were completely true. Star was starting to realize what, exactly, was going on. “...you’re going to destroy Chaldea...no, it’s...”   
  
“Tut, tut, dear. We shouldn’t talk about such distasteful subjects so openly.” Koyanskaya chided her. “Not just yet. Of course, when the eve of my departure comes...I would rather like a souvenir. Not something of Humanity, of course…” she added with a final little smirk. “Nothing so rough and jagged. I’m sure you’ll think of something nice.”    
  
Patting Star on the head, she straightened up, the clicking of her heels marking her departure down the hall. Long after she had left, Star remained against the wall, hand to her chest. Eventually, one of the soldiers found her, and guided her back to the room where Da Vinci, Mash, and Miyu were.    
  
The next couple of days passed mostly in silence; Mash, Miyu, and Da Vinci were clearly trying to figure out some plan, and they even seemed to have a good one. They kept checking in with Star, asking if she was okay, and she kept nodding, trying to smile a bit. She couldn’t get those eyes out of her head, though. Those green eyes that saw right through her. The green eyes that-   
  
She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of gunfire. Gunfire...and screams. It was starting. It was starting all over again, just like when she arrived. Just like it always did around her...they escaped, yes. With the help of Da Vinci, they were even able to beat back the soldiers, for a moment. Until she came, bringing with her a Servant. Even the way things were, Star could feel how powerful that Servant was...and in that moment, she finally understood, completely.   
  
When the light from Da Vinci’s bomb faded...Star was still standing there. The sound of Miyu and the others was fading away as they made their way back to the hanger, but Star...Star slowly sank down to her knees, her hands in the air.   
  
_ ‘Click. Click. Click.’  _ the sound of heels on the icy ground, and soon enough, Koyanskaya was standing above her. “So this is how the last Master of Humanity meets their end. It’s almost fitting.”    
  
Star closed her eyes as Koyanskaya crouched down, reaching for her...and then she felt the click of a collar around her neck.   
  
“Of course, just standing there like a fool is more likely to get you killed than anything…” Star was being pulled upward by the collar now, on her feet again as Koyanskaya’s voice tickled at her ear. “We’ll have to work on that. But being untrained and useless are two separate matters.” Star’s eyes opened, a clear predatory look in Koyanskaya’s eyes as she looked her over. “You know what this means, don’t you? ♥ The price you’re trading for your weak life?”   
  
“Da Vinci!” Miyu and Mash’s voices cut across the silence after that question, and Star looked down the hall, her eyes wide. The sheer pain she heard, there was no doubt in her mind what was going on. 

Leaning into her shoulder, Koyanskaya cooed “So what will it be? Are you the Savior of Humanity, running towards the danger, saving your friends? Or?” she looped a finger into the back of the collar, pulling Star closer to her. “Do you want to live?”

###  _**Ninety-Four Days later** _

The wind howled around Star as she stared down at the battle. It was reaching it’s final stages now. Though she couldn’t see her, she knew the determination filling Miyu’s eyes. It felt like a lifetime ago that she had had that same determination. With a sigh, she pulled the glove back on, ignoring the twinge of pain from the scars on her arm. She had long learned not to wince, or flinch, or show any signs of weakness. She knew what the price for that was.

The past three months had drilled that, and many other lessons into her. Once she had finished her business in Chaldea, Koyanskaya had spirited Star away...somewhere. It didn’t feel like a Rayshift, but she could tell she was in another timeline from her own. That’s when her training had started, and where she had learned the depths of her Mistress’ plans.   
  
“Seems like they’re entirely focused on their mission. I wonder if they’ve given up on you?” Star looked back over her shoulder as Koyanskaya entered the room. “More importantly, do they know you’ve given up on them? On all of Humanity?”   
  
Star shook her head. “I doubt it. They’re hopeful to the last. Same with the Crypters. Even with impossible odds, they’re still going to keep trying, until the very end.”   
  
“That’s exactly like them~” Koyanskaya laughed, producing a familiar object from her pocket. “They’re completely caught up in their egos. That’s going to make it all the more satisfying to watch them kill each other.” without a word, Star walked closer to her Mistress. “They’ve taken your Spirit Origins, too, and even Mash’s contract. Doesn’t a part of you want to go back and get them?” Koyanskaya hooked the leash to Star’s collar. Of course she already knew the answer to that, she didn’t even have to ask   
  
“No. It’s just the gasping breath of a dying race. I have no attachment to the Proper Human Order.” Star replied without hesitation. That had been the end result of her training. She was a part of Koyanskaya’s collection now, the sole human who had accepted her fate. Not quite an ally, but more than a captive. “The only thing I want to do with those Heroic Spirits is watch the despair on their faces as they buckle and fall.”

Gently tugging the leash, Koyanskaya nodded. “Well done, Star.” she praised, almost as one would a favored pet. “Let’s get going; there’s no way that child is going to provide us an entertaining show.” Star bowed her head, following the lead, and the two of them departed.

###  _**Sixty-one days prior** _

“Why...why?” Star asked, as she was, for the third day in a row, cuffed to the bar. “Why didn’t you just kill me back then? Why don’t you kill me now?”   
  
The reaction was swift and predictable, the gloves slapping across her cheek. “Don’t whimper like that. You’re embarrassing yourself, and much more importantly, me.” Koyanskaya pulled her glove back on, disgust clear on her face. “You’re making me regret my investment in you.”   
  
“But then…” 

Koyanskaya’s hand went to Star’s mouth, and she leaned in, lips mere centimeters from Star’s ear, and she whispered.   
  
_ “Because it’s going to amuse me, making you into a monster just like me. _ ”


End file.
